yeah its a social construct but its a politically correct term for black thats all it is we call them that because thats what they want be called it has changed throughout the years the history is basically nigger to negro to colored to black to african american all it means is black it is the same reason people in the us get made fun of when they call a black guy from england african american the disconnect is that all african american means is black most people use it because it is the neutral term a certain segment of the black community gets upset if you use the term black it seems like this has been changing as people seem to slowly edge back towards black but african america is the pc term right now